


petals spilled

by miraculousmultifan



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (it depends on the ending you pick), Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst with a sad ending, Coughing Blood, Flower meanings, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, but i dont describe it all that much, honestly patches has it the worst, sorry george but its true
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:48:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29159160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculousmultifan/pseuds/miraculousmultifan
Summary: Dream had loved George since they had become friends, but he hadn't realized the gravity of his feelings until it was almost too late. Maybe he could prolong his time by distancing himself. That would surely work, right?***this fic has a happy ending and a sad ending. you could read both or just the one you'd prefer. chapter 1 is the main story, chapter 2 is the happy ending, and chapter 3 is the sad ending.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 65





	1. catching flowers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Momokyu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Momokyu/gifts).



> i wanted to add flower meanings, so the flowers i picked are supposed to represent the emotions that dream is feeling. feel free to look them up, but ill add the flowers i used and their meanings into the end notes of each chapter.
> 
> i also listened to "So Close" from Enchanted on a loop while writing this and, tbh i think it enhances the experience

Dream checked his phone every five minutes at most, waiting for George to respond to his messages. Okay, so maybe he was clingy, but that’s just the type of person he is. He’d be the same with the rest of his friends… right?

Sighing to himself, Dream set his phone down and told himself that he had work he needed to get done. George could wait for a response just like he did. He settled into his programming, getting through a few lines of code when he heard a ping from discord. He clicked over only to see that it was a message from Sapnap. He huffed, getting up to make some food. Maybe he just had to be away from his computer.

Deciding to cook some intricate dinner for himself so that he would have to focus, Dream started making sushi for himself, the methodic rolling helping him to clear his mind. Eventually, though, he got so into the rhythm that his mind started to wander again. He was so excited to eat this sushi.  _ Homemade sushi _ . You know who likes sushi? George. He’s probably never had good homemade sushi before. Maybe Dream could invite him over - just to make him sushi of course. Dream paused, feeling a pang in his chest.

He could hold him too. When they first make eye contact at the airport, Dream could pull him into a hug and hold his body close. Finally seeing his best friend.

Suddenly, a cough erupted in his throat. He stepped away from the sushi he was rolling and held his face above the sinks. His eyes widened in shock when he noticed the specks of red dotting the bottom of the sink. Hmmm. Well, maybe it was just residue from the Kool-Aid he was drinking earlier. There was no need for him to be alarmed - everything was fine.

From the counter, his phone pinged. He walked over to pick it up, smiling at the new notification. George was live and trying to speedrun Minecraft. Surely he wouldn’t mind if Dream joined him?

“What’s up, stream?” Dream called after joining George’s Teamspeak. He had George’s stream pulled up on his second monitor, and he smiled at the chat messages that were flying by. It seemed everyone was excited to hear his voice. But was George?

“Dream! Thank god you’re here. I was hoping you’d show up.” George breathed, turning his head to smile at the monitor with Teamspeak pulled up. Dream’s smile grew. George wanted them there. George was relieved he had shown up.

“Oh, really? Why’s that Georgie?” Dream practically purred into the mic, his chin resting on the palm of his hand. He blinked and pulled away from the mic, shaking his head. That was really weird. Why had he done that? 

Dream watched the chat fly by, messages like, “DEFFO FLERTING” and “oh my god dream is flirting” and “DNF DNF DNF” catching his eyes and making him blush. He wasn’t flirting, was he? He was just bantering.

“Ooh, a nickname!” George said, ignoring Dream’s tone as well as his question. “Maybe I should make a nickname for you. How about Dreamie? Then we can match. Or maybe  _ my _ Dream. Would you like that?”

Dream froze, speechless. My Dream? Why had George said it like that? He felt a tickle in his throat, and he raised his hand to rub at it.

“Oh, calm down chat. I’m just messing around. Alright, Dream I need you to give me some tips. I want to beat my record this time.”

Dream felt his heart drop in his chest. Why? What was making him feel like this? 

The longer it took for him to respond, the wilder the chat got. They couldn’t stop talking about his reactions to the pet names. George had obviously noticed, and he smirked. “Oh, did you like that, Dreamie? Or did you prefer my Dream? I bet you liked that one the best, huh. You’re so  _ possessive  _ sometimes.”

Dream stood up from his chair abruptly, letting it fall to the floor as he coughed onto his desk. Maybe he was coming down with a cold? He tried to respond to George (maybe with a devastating one-liner), but no matter how hard he tried, he just kept coughing.

It was only once he felt like he was about to suffocate that the coughing subsided. Of course, he had squeezed his eyes shut when it had gotten too painful, so when he opened them, he was surprised to see flower petals littering his desk.

And on top of them sat a single yellow gardenia, speckled with red.

Something clicked in Dream’s brain then, and he closed his eyes once more, hoping that when he opened them, the flowers would go away.

Unfortunately, when he opened his eyes again, the flowers were still there.

George’s voice drifted out of the headphones that Dream had knocked over. “Dream, are you okay? Do you think you’re coming down with something?”

He most definitely was, but it’s not like he could tell George that. He opened his mouth to respond, but he felt another tickle growing in his throat. He let out a strained, “Gotta go, bye,” before disconnecting from the Teamspeak and moving to clean up the petals.

The tickle in his throat faded as George’s voice no longer made its way into Dream’s ears. Dream’s eyebrows furrowed as he opened up a new web browser.

Hanahaki disease.

It was familiar to him. With the amount of fanfiction of him and George he had read (he was starting to see how this wasn’t such a sudden thing), he had come across it a couple of times - he just hadn’t thought it would ever happen to him. He spent a couple more minutes looking up the phases before moving onto the cure. Because there  _ had _ to be a cure, right?

Oh. 

No, he wouldn’t do it. Pain, he could deal with. Heartache, he could do. Memory loss? He could never bring himself to forget George. His laugh. His eyes. His smile. God, Dream couldn’t do it.

Resigning himself to his inevitable fate, Dream curled up on his bed.

*******

Dream woke up surrounded by flower petals and several full flowers. Striped pink carnations, daffodils, forget-me-nots; he must have dreamed about George again. 

It had been about a week since he had realized, but Dream had managed to keep his symptoms at bay. All he had to do was avoid George. It was easier than he had expected, but that didn’t mean it felt good.

Patches jumped onto the bed, curling up on Dream’s chest, feeling his pain. Dream was going to miss her.

Don’t fault him for being so pessimistic. He knew what was going to happen. He was smart, alright? The only way for this  _ fatal _ disease to be cured was either by a surgery that took away all memories and feelings of love for George,  _ or _ George could reciprocate his feelings. If either of those didn’t happen he would die.

Since he wasn’t going to have the surgery, and there was no way in hell George would ever love him back the same way, Dream was going to die. The most he could do was prolong the inevitable, spending as much time with Patches and his family as he could before leaving a note for whoever finds him.  _ If _ someone finds him.

Eventually, his fans started to worry for him. His once-a-month uploading schedule had been missed, and he hadn’t been in any of his friends’ videos lately. Sighing, Dream decided to do a manhunt. At least he didn’t have to talk very much since he’d be running for his life.

Hopping into the Teamspeak for the first time since George’s fateful stream, Dream waited for his friends to join him. It didn’t take very long before his ears were flooded with screams and yells as his friends clambered to ask him where he’s been.

He waited until they all went silent before putting on his regular voice (albeit a little scratchy) and saying, “You guys want to do another manhunt. Just the four of us? I need something to put out for the fans.”

“That’s how you greet us?” Sapnap screeched. “We were so worried about you, man!”

“We probably blew up your phone with how much we were texting you. Are you sure everything’s alright? I can tell when you lie, you know, so don’t even try it, you muffin.”

George stayed silent, and Dream felt his heart squeeze. It was for the best anyway.

“I’m fine, guys. Really. Just came down with a little cold, and I didn’t want to bother you. Now, are we gonna manhunt or not?”

Accepting the small bit that Dream had decided to share, Bad, Sapnap, and George jumped onto the server so they could start. The manhunt went like most others did. It did Dream well to have something else he could put all of his energy into, and manhunts were kind of his  _ thing _ . This was just what he needed.

It was only once he got to the stronghold that Dream realized he had overlooked something: George’s screams. While they waited for Dream to show up, George and Sapnap messed around, trying to push each other into the lava pool close by.

Shaking off his momentary lapse, Dream pushed in, managing to 2v1 them and jump through the portal. The end went by fast, Dream making quick work of the end crystals even with his friends trying to stop him. He was only a couple hits away from killing the dragon when George shrieked at the crowd of endermen that were following him. Dream froze, his face tinting. 

It was at that moment, the dragon flung Dream into the air. Dream moved quickly, trying to land an MLG.

“Come on, Dreamie~ You can’t let  _ this _ kill you. At least let it be  _ me _ .”

Dream’s heart soared and then plummeted. His finger slipped, and he missed the MLG.

Because of George.

And that stupid nickname.

And his stupid voice.

Why did he have to make it sound like that? So… interested. So easily reflecting just how he feels. He can’t just  _ say _ things like that when he didn’t mean any of it. When it was just for the bit.

Sharp burning rose in his throat, Dream started coughing violently. He had tuned out the cheers of his friends, only focusing on the flowers that were falling onto his desk. Purple hyacinths. Marigolds. Monkshood.

Once he rose from his daze, Dream stopped recording. He thanked his friends for filming with him, hoping that none of them noticed his fit at the end, no matter how obvious it was.

Bad and Sapnap had logged off shortly after, having other things they needed to attend to. Dream got up from his seat to clean up the flowers, hoping that by the time he finished George would have left as well.

Setting aside the flowers that were the most intact, Dream threw out the rest, sighing heavily and getting himself something for his throat. Oh, well. He had obviously gotten worse, but it’d be alright. He had something to upload, so he had just bought himself another month to avoid George and slow down the rate at which it would kill him.

Let’s be real. George didn’t love him back. He couldn’t. There was definitely a reason he never told Dream he loved him. Even platonically. He just didn’t feel the same way, and that was okay. Well, it wasn’t okay for Dream, but he had made his peace weeks ago. How could he ever be angry at George? It’s not like he knew.

*******

He could only get through another week before George asked to call him. So he agreed. Could you blame him though? How was he ever supposed to say no to George?

“Hey, George,” Dream said, his voice scratchy, making him sound like he had a cold.

“Still have that cold, huh? Might want to get it checked out,” George said drily, almost like he didn’t believe Dream at all.

“I probably should,” Dream replied, knowing full well that he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. “So why did you want to call me?”

“What the fuck, Dream? You can’t act like you don’t know!”

With those words, Dream stiffened. He knew. He knew and he didn’t sound happy. Or in love. He didn’t sound very fond of Dream at all, actually. Dream had to play dumb. There’s no way he could actually say  _ those _ words to George.

Though… What was the difference? He had told George he loved him many times. It’s not like George would know that this one was real. That didn’t matter though. George never said it back anyway.

“What do you mean? I seriously have no idea why you wanted to call.”

“You’re avoiding me, you idiot! And it’s very obvious. I make you uncomfortable on my stream, so you go  _ completely dark _ ? How am I supposed to react to that? It’s obviously my fault, so I need you to tell me what I did.” There was a quiet anger in his words, his voice soft but sharp.

Dream felt his heart break. The last thing he wanted was for George to think all of this was his fault. It technically was, but only in the best ways. George had never done anything wrong, and Dream had to convince him of that.

“I’m so sorry,” Dream started, leaning back to rest his head on his chair. “You never made me uncomfortable. I’ve just been feeling… off lately. It’s nothing to do with you. Or… well. It’s not your fault.”

George probably noticed his change of wording, but he didn’t mention it. After all, Dream was telling him what he wanted to hear.

“I trust you, Dream. I’m sorry for yelling at you like this. Especially since you’re not feeling well. If you don’t mind… Could I come visit you? I want to make sure you’re alright and… you know, take care of you?” George sounded shy, but determined, and what was Dream supposed to say to that? It didn’t matter to him that George would be the catalyst to his passing. If it meant he could see George in person for the first time? He would take the opportunity in a heartbeat.

“Of course, George. I’d love for you to come visit.”


	2. tears and deep breaths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> happy ending!

The first thing Dream did after hanging up with George was clean his house. Admittedly, he had started to get lax with all the flower petals on the floor of each room, but it wasn’t like anyone was coming over. But now someone was. Someone who absolutely could not know about his affliction. George didn’t tell him when he would be coming, but he needed to be ready.

His house had basically been deep cleaned. Patches mewed at him curiously with a twinkle in her eyes and she followed him around the house, getting in the way as he tried to purge the house of any flowers, petals, and leaves that had covered the shelves, counters, and floors.

Apparently, George had caught the first flight that was available because by the time Dream had decided to settle into bed, content with the progress he had made, his doorbell rang.

Heading to the door, Dream prepared himself to see George in person for the very first time. Although he was excited, Dream couldn’t help but feel like this was it. His life was coming to a close. The only positive was that he could at least meet George before his presence became too much for his lungs.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

It only took one look for his lungs to twinge, but Dream kept it in as he drank in the sight of George, the capturer of his heart and lungs. He looked…  _ really good _ . And that was saying something considering he had just been on a plane for several hours. 

Dream fumbled for a bit, holding in his cough as he grinned at George. “You’re finally here! I’m so glad I get to meet you in person. I wish it didn’t take you wanting to take care of me for you to fly over though.”

George laughed lightly, looking Dream over to check his health. “You don’t seem as sick as I expected from your voice.”

“I guess I must have gotten a bit better since we last spoke,” Dream chuckled nervously, still staring at George.

They took in each other for a while longer before George snapped out of it. “Are you going to let me in?” George blinked and the next thing he knew, he was enveloped in Dream’s arms.

“I’m  _ so  _ happy to see you. Just let me have this for a little while, okay?”

After recovering from his surprise, George hugged Dream back just as fiercely, neither wanting to let the other man go. It was only once the tickle in Dream’s throat became nearly unbearable that he pulled away reluctantly. They’d have more time to cuddle, right? Right?

Dream led George inside, carefully steering him away from the rooms that still had petals littering the floors. They stopped in front of the guest bedroom where George was going to sleep, letting him drop his bags and survey the space before they moved on to the kitchen.

Dream poured them both a bowl of cereal, feeling too weak from George’s constant presence to attempt a real meal. While George wasn’t looking, he leaned over the sink and coughed into his hand, washing the sorrels down the sink, along with the blood that had flecked on his hands.

George politely offered to grab him a throat lozenge from his bad, to which Dream accepted so as to not seem suspicious. He couldn’t have George knowing about his love. No, not at all. 

They ate their cereal in silence, neither knowing quite why, but both willing to settle into the awkward tension in the house. With a silted nod, they went their separate ways in the hope that sleep would somehow make everything better. Dream loved George to the point of death, and George didn’t know. Surely a simple good night’s sleep would fix them.

As Dream lay in bed, Patches hopped onto his chest and nudged her head softly against his throat, purring as if she knew that he was hurting and she could fix it. It didn’t do quite what she wanted, but Dream appreciated the gesture anyway. He ran his fingers through her fur as her rumbling lulled him to sleep. She always knew just how to make him feel better.

*******

The next morning, it seemed everything had gotten more tense. With the amount of time they were spending together, Dream was having a hard time hiding the true depth of his affliction from George. He had taken to swallowing the petals and finding times to spit out the flowers, doing anything in his power to keep it all a secret from George. He’d confess if it came to it, but he’d rather not die with George watching him. That was his main wish.

Deciding to try a little harder, Dream made them some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. He had bigger plans for later in the day. He was going to make his favorite food! He had woken up that morning in a bed covered with almost only flowers, some with stems, so he knew his time was coming. Who could blame him for wanting to enjoy his last meal?

After breakfast, Dream and George sat together on the couch watching Youtube on the TV. They had just pulled up George’s latest video when George noticed something pop up in Dream’s recommended videos.

“Oooh, Dream! ‘George and Dream being simps for each other for 20 minutes’? What do you think? Should we watch it?” George teaseed, waggling his eyebrows as he tried to lighten the mood.

It did the opposite. Desperately not wanting to seem different than usual, Dream taunted him back, knowing it could only lead to his demise. And they hadn’t even eaten the cheesecake he had prepared yet.

“Sure, Georgie. Let’s watch it. Or are you just bluffing? I bet you just don’t want to see how much of a simp for me you really are!”

If there was one thing George couldn’t turn down, it was a challenge to prove how much he  _ wasn’t _ a simp. He scowled at Dream and immediately moved to play the video, leaning back in his seat with confidence. Or what would be considered confidence to someone who didn’t know George as well as Dream did. He was faking it. Why? Dream didn’t know.

The video began, various scenes that Dream remembered vividly flashing across the screen. He noticed George’s face had flushed quite a bit, but it was probably due to the Florida heat. George really was a Brit through and through.

Suddenly, a clip that Dream had never seen before started playing. On the screen, the text to speech read out a dono.

“George. What’s your favorite soup? Also do you know why Dream hasn’t been streaming lately? Love you and your streams! You’re my comfort streamer.”

Onscreen-George laughed lightly. “I’d say at the moment, my favorite soup is french onion. I can’t get enough of the stuff.” Dream filed that information away to the George part of his brain. He didn’t know whether he’d ever get to make good use of it, but it wouldn’t hurt to have it. “As for Dream, I have no clue. I’ve been worried about him too guys. I just–”

Dream’s eyes widened as he watched a flush rise to onscreen-George’s face. 

“Don’t tell him this guys, but ever since he took a break without telling anyone, I’ve been feeling really out of it. Streaming’s not as much fun when I’m worried that he’s sick or not doing well. He hasn’t even been texting me. OR– or any of the guys. He hasn’t texted me or the guys. Not even Sapnap.”

Dream could hear George making strangled noises next to him, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen. The next thing he knew, he was coughing. He made an attempt to cover it with his hands, but he was too late. Some of the petals were spilling out. When his coughing fit was over, Dream looked over to see George’s shocked face and sighed, letting the sunflowers, morning glories, and white jasmines fall into his lap.

“ _ Dream? _ ” George yelled, scrambling across the couch to make Dream look him in the eyes. “Who are they for? When did this start? Why didn’t you  _ tell me _ ?”

Dream looked away, trying to stop a tear from slipping down his cheeks. This was it. He took a deep breath and turned back to George, letting the tears fall more freely. “I don’t know how long. Probably years, but the flowers didn’t start until a couple months ago. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry, and to be honest, I’m still not sure whether that worked out in my favor or not. And the uh… the flowers.”

Dream closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the couch and taking gulping breaths. “The flowers. They’re for–” He could feel George leaning closer. He could feel George’s hand squeezing his to the point that he might cut off blood circulation. “They’re yours.”

George gasped, and Dream knew that was it.

“They’re mine? Your flowers… they’re for me?”

Dream nodded, not having it in him to speak anymore. What would he do once George rejected him? Book him a flight back to the UK so he wouldn’t have to witness Dream’s inevitable deterioration?

“Dream, I– I love you,” George breathed, reaching out to wipe the tears away from Dream’s cheeks.

Dream’s eyes shot open, and he searched George’s face for any sign that he was lying. Lying to save his best friend’s life. Lying out of pity.

There was none.

But Dream still couldn’t be sure. Why now would George tell him? Why not earlier?

George leaned in and kissed him gently, resting their foreheads together until Dream could feel tears hitting his cheeks that were not his own.

Those were stupid questions. Of course, now. Earlier would never have been possible. They were there together now, and that’s what mattered.

Dream kissed George back tenderly, holding him close with the intent to never let him go. His lungs were lighter, and his heart was full.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorrels - affection  
> sunflowers (dwarf) - adoration  
> morning glories - affection  
> white jasmines - sweet love


	3. so close to that happy ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sad ending :(

Dream wanted to clean his room,  _ really _ , he did. It’s just… What was the point? George was going to find out either way. It was coming to the point that Dream couldn't hide the flowers that exploded from his chest. Especially not in person. 

So what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t say no to George, of course he couldn’t. He was coming, and Dream couldn’t do anything to stop it.

He had to decide what he wanted to do with his last moments. Hopefully, they would be with George, but he couldn’t guarantee that. He wanted it more than anything, but sometimes you don’t get what you want, and that’s okay.

Settling on top of his bed, Dream pulled out his phone and plugged it into the charger. He thought for a moment before disabling the password on his phone. He typed in a little note into his notes app before switching to Youtube. Pulling up George’s Youtube channel, he settled into his pillow, fully knowing that all he was doing was speeding up the process. If this was the only way he was able to spend his last moments with George, he’d do it. No matter what.

For the next few hours, Dream went through all of George’s videos, starting from the very first one they made together. He watched them all, one after the other without skipping through  _ anything _ .

Seeing him and George run around various Minecraft worlds together, laughing and just having fun like always made him wish that none of this had happened to him. He could tell. With every noise he made and every word he said, he could  _ hear _ how in love he was. It was so obvious he almost couldn’t handle it.

But George had responded. And he had flirted back, although jokingly. They had been close and friendly, and George was so sweet and funny and–

Dream stopped, coughing violently until a full flower head came out of his mouth. Remembering the research he had done, Dream sighed. There was only one last step left. Flower and stem, all together.

His time was coming, but it would be alright. He had George by his side.

He let the flowers take him slowly, a bittersweet smile on his lips.

*******

George knocked on Dream’s front door, patiently waiting for him to answer. He was sick, so it made sense that it was taking him a while to get to the door, but he also wasn’t responding to any of George’s messages. After waiting for a few minutes longer, George called Dream.

From outside the front door, he could hear Dream’s phone ringing and ringing, but there was still no movement inside. Getting worried, George tried the doorknob, his eyebrows raising when it slid open easily.

“Dream? Is everything okay?” George called, setting down his bags in the foyer and heading deeper inside. He checked the living room first, frowning when he didn’t even see Patches.

Coming from one of the back rooms, he heard frantic mewing combined with the ringing of Dream’s phone. His eyes widened as the worst-case scenarios came to mind. Dream could be unconscious. He could be bleeding. He could have passed out from exhaustion.

None of those things compared to what he actually saw.

Dream was laying in his bed, looking not unlike Sleeping Beauty except instead of flowers in his hands, the flowers were growing from his chest and filling his mouth. Patches was laying with her head on his chest and crying, staring up at George with wide eyes. She turned away from him to nudge Dream’s hand, hoping he was simply asleep. He’d reach out to pet her. Any minute.

“Oh my god.”

George dropped to his knees next to Dream’s bed, reaching a hand up to cover his mouth and letting the room fall silent as his phone ended the call. The only noise was Patches’ wailing as she rested her head on Dream’s chest to listen to his heartbeat, finding none. It was like George could tell exactly what she was thinking when she lifted her head away from his chest, terrified.  _ He’s not breathing. Why isn’t he breathing?! _ She crawled closer, pushing against his chin with her head, purring in an attempt to wake him up. To bring him back to life. 

George was in shock. The gravity of the situation wasn’t settling in. Dream was in front of him finally, but in all the wrong ways. For all the wrong reasons.

Reaching a hand out, George brushed Dream’s hair off his forehead, picking up some petals and flowers that had fallen to his side. Patches let him get closer, looking at him sadly as if she knew what was happening. As if she knew who George was and trusted him.

George’s gaze caught on the phone resting in Dream’s hand. It was open to his notes app. Not wanting to pry, he almost looked away, but he froze when he caught his name within the paragraph of text.

_ George, _

_ I’m sorry. I wanted to hold out for you, but I didn’t know how much time I had left. I wanted to do this in person, but I think this is the best I can get. I love you. Everything about you. I love you so much, George, you have no idea. With every video we filmed or stream we played it was like I fell deeper and deeper.  _

_ You’re so smart, George. Maybe I just have a thing for competency, but it blew me away every time we had a new, wild idea for a video, and you went right at it. You’re so much more talented at coding than me, and I was so proud of you for it. You’re so loving. I know you try not to make it seem that way, but I’ve known you for too long not to see how you act around the people you love. I just wish I could be sure that you really loved me. At least, in the way that I love you. Loved you. No, that’s wrong. I LOVE you. And I WILL love you. For all eternity. I don’t think I could ever stop loving you if I tried. (And trust me, I NEVER tried). _

_ If you end up getting here before I die, you probably wouldn’t be reading this, so I just want to say I’m sorry. I wanted to hold out for you, but I knew I wouldn’t have enough time. I love you, okay, George? I don’t want to burden you, but I haven’t had anyone else on my mind for the past couple days. Please take care of Patches. I know it’s inconsiderate of me to place this responsibility on you, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  _

_ I love you so much.  _

_ Clay _

George couldn’t take it. He broke down sobbing, leaning his forehead on Dream’s chest. Patches mewed in distress, moving to his lap to curl up with him, finding comfort in their shared pain.

He was gone. After everything, he was gone. The marks he left and the memories he made with not only his friends but also with his audience. That wasn’t going away any time soon, but what did it matter when he wasn’t going to be there to share the laughter and the jokes.

George didn’t know how long he stayed there by his side, but he soon tired himself out. Not wanting to leave Dream’s side for even a minute, George climbed up onto the bed next to him, curling up by his side and holding his hand. Patches joined him, snuggling herself in between them as if they were all together and alive. Maybe she would’ve done the same thing when Dream and George finally cuddled for the first time, but now they’d never know.

George quietly drifted off, tucking his head in the crook of Dream’s neck, letting his tears fall freely. Patches nudged against his chest and purred, trying to comfort him, but he didn’t think anything could help him.

As he finally started to dream, he coughed, red carnations and marigolds spilling out to mix with the red chrysanthemums and white clovers that were growing out of Dream’s chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> red carnations - my heart aches  
> marigolds - despair, grief  
> red chrysanthemums - i love you  
> white clovers - think of me

**Author's Note:**

> yellow gardenia - secret love  
> striped carnation + pink carnation - refusal + i'll never forget you  
> daffodil - unequalled love, unrequited love  
> forget-me-not - true love memories, do not forget me  
> purple hyacinth - sorrow, regret  
> marigold - despair, grief  
> monkshood - beware, a deadly foe is near


End file.
